Today's prayers for goodness lead to a much bigger issue. As we seek to mold and correct our young boys, we absolutely must keep in mind that it is not the outward behavior that we are to focus on. While it is important that they do not hit their brother (a big one in our home), or talk back to their parents (another challenge), and listen to instructions rather than ignore us, we will be doing them a huge disservice if we do not seek to change their hearts. But what I have learned through praying these prayers this summer is that it is not up to us as parents to change our children's hearts. That's God's job. He wants their hearts more than we as their parents want them to have hearts for Him. The last week of our praying for our sons' challenge has a day of "heart change" prayers. So in disciplining them we must remember that we are after a change in their wanting to do good, not just the momentary behavior change. They have to want to do the right thing every time, for the right reasons. Brooke says, "Ask yourself these questions:
What parenting tools have I been using that only focus on changing behavior and not the heart? Am I
willing to lay them down even if they produce what looks like a good child?
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Reaching a child's heart takes time. Behavior modification is much faster! Am I willing to change things
about my life so that I have the time to invest in the hearts of my children?
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Most importantly: Am I willing to submit my own heart to God and allow Him to mold me from the
inside out?
Shepherding our boys is not for the faint of heart friends! Once a week or more I'm tempted to just throw it all
out the window (including the boys … ) and take the easier path. So what keeps me going?"
